Cattle-guard.



UNITED STATES PATNT FFIGE PAUL DECOTEAU, OF DUTCHTOWN, LOUISIANA.

CATTLE-GUARD.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PAUL Dnoornau, a citizen of the United States of America, and resident of Dutchtown, in the parish of Ascension and State of Louisiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cattle-Guards, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to cattle guards and particularly to animal actuated means for. operating the said guard whereby the same is elevated to guard the track and prevent the passage of the animal over the guarded portion of the track.

An object of this invention is to provide means for mounting the guard, associated with novel means for elevating the guard on the approach of an animal, the said guard being in a lowered position so long as the operating parts thereof are not actuated.

With the foregoing and other objects in View, the invention consists in the details of construction and in the arrangement and combination of parts to be hereinafter more fully set forth and claimed.

In describing the invention in detail, ref erence will be had to the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification wherein like characters denote corresponding parts in the several views, and in which Figure 1 illustrates a plan view of a portion of a track with the guard ap lied thereto; and Fig. 2 illustrates a side e evation thereof.

In these drawings 3 and 4 denote the rails of a track, 5 the cross ties thereof, one of which is provided with hinges 6 to which the guard 7 is connected so that the said guard, which is somewhat in the nature of a gate may swing on the hinges from a substantially horizontal position as shown in Fig. 2 to a substantially vertical position when it will be in posit-ion to prevent the passage of animals down the track, it being understood that the sides of the track may be likewise guarded in any appropriate way now commonly in use.

On each side of the guard, the track isprovided with a series of planks 8, the said planks being situated between the ties 5 so that they may move vertically the space Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 7, 1912.

Patented Aug. 5,1913. Serial No. 735,501.

between said ties. The ties at each side of the guard have plates 9 apertured to receive the eye bolts 10 to which the wire or other flexible device 11 can be secured or anchored, the said wire 11 being run over pulleys 12 which are supported by the cross ties 5. While I have referred to the element 11 as a wire or other flexible connection it is to be understood that in the further discussion of this element, it will be referred to as a wire alone and that by the term is meant any chain, rope or material which will accomplish the result intended.

That. portion of the gate which is connected to the hinges has a series of arms 18 extending through it, the ends of each terminating in eyes to which the wires 11 are attached, so that a pull on the wires on either side of the guard will result in swinging the guard on its hinges to a vertical position.

As a means for actuating the guard, the blanks 8 have pulleys 14 which are hung or supported on the wires between the cross ties so that when an animal steps on a plank and forces it downward between the cross ties, it will result in drawing the ends of the wires connected to the arms so that the guard will be swung on its hinges, said action taking place on account of the fact that the outer ends of the wires are anchored to the plates 9.

From an inspection of Fig. 2 it will be observed that the wires on one side of the guard are run under the set of pulleys on the cross ties adjacent the guard and that they run over the other pulleys on the cross ties on the same side of the guard whereas the said wires run over all of the stationary pulleys or those which are on the cross ties on the opposite side of the guard, and hence the guards may be swung over either side by the depression of any one of the planks.

I claim In a cattle guard, a track including cross ties, pulleys supported by the cross ties, a guard, means for hinging the guard to a cross tie, arms extending through a portion of the guard to which the means for hinging the guard are connected, wires connected to the ends of each arm, said wires being in engagement with the pulleys on the cross ties, anchoring plates to which the outer ends of the Wires are connected, planks be tween the cross ties, pulleys hung on the said Wires and connected to the planks for supporting the same, whereby movement of the planks between the cross ties is communicated to the guard.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto aflix my slgnature 1n the presence of two wltnesses.

PAUL DECOTEAU.

Witnesses AUG. MARCHAND, J. F. ARGENEAUX.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

